By Alex Glassman

The 2009 Ford Ironman held in Tempe on November 22 was its sixth-running and consisted of record breaking  2500 plus athletes, who undertook a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and finished with a 26.2 mile run. Near perfect weather conditions blessed the event spanned from Tempe Town Lake to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
In the Men’s Overall, it was New York native Jordan Rapp who took control early on in the bike portion of the race and held the lead throughout; setting a new course record and a new bike split record with a blazing 4:22:31. This was the second Ironman win of his carrier, previously winning the Subaru Ironman Canada, August 09. Coming up behind Rapp was fellow American TJ Tollakson and German Torsten Abel. Tollakson and Abel sprinted nearly neck to neck for the finish, Tollakson coming in seventeen seconds before Abel.

For the top finishers in the women’s, Samantha McGlone was crowned the victor. She exited the swim in tenth, behind Leanda Cave who took first out of the water in 50:10. Halfway through the bike McGlone grabbed the lead and also set a new course record and bike split record with a split time of 4:56:48. This was her first Ironman victory, her previous IM best came during the Ford Ironman World Championships last year where she placed second. Linsey Crobin won second in this year’s Ford Ironman Tempe, and the Australian Kate Major, who won Ironman Arizona 2005, grabbed third.

Of the more than 2500 athletes in attendance, only about a hundred did not meet their cut-offs. The move from April to November in the schedule  has made the race very popular among both amateurs and Pro triathletes with more ideal weather conditions and early in the hunt for a spot at the World Championships.

WOMEN - PROS
Samantha McGlone (9:09:19)
Linsey Crobin (9:13:46)
Kate Major (9:20:12)

MEN - PROS
Jordan Rapp (8:13:35)
TJ Tollakson (8:20:22)
Torsten Abel (8:20:39)

WOMEN’S AGE GROUP WINNERS
18-24: Tatiana Vertiz (10:30:21)
25-29: Jeanine Cordova (10:08:07)
30-34: Chrissy Parks (9:56:21)
35-39: Wendy Mader (10:02:11)
40-44: Monica Moreno (10:30:23)
45-49: Cherie Touchette (10:25:19)
50-54: Jeri Howland (11:26:21)
55-59: Cathy Tibbetts (11:40:42)
60-64: Melodie Cronenberg (13:51:46)
65-69: Joan Lockwood (14:53:53)

MEN’S AGE GROUP WINNERS
18-24: Alex Fairman (9:36:05)
25-29: Kevin Taddonio (9:07:49)
30-34: Rafae Brandao de Oliveira (8:50:25)
35-39: Edward McDevitt (9:02:30)
40-44: Kevin Dessart (9:10:33)
45-49: Peter Buehlow (9:22:53)
50-54: Brian Keast (9:39:56)
55-59: Gregory Taylor (10:09:28)
60-64: Al Truscott (10:56:42)
65-69: Siegfried Schmidt (1:51:34)
70-74: Bob Heines (13:30:55)
75-79: Neal Henderson(16:44:12)